In March, host of CNBC's Squawk Box asked Richard Fisher, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas:

​"But are you surprised that it (monetary policy) hasn't really had the.. a desired effect in the real economy? A part of the aim of QE (quantitative easing), right, was to stimulate asset prices and create a wealth effect."

​Just two months ago, former Fed President Dick Fisher admitted that "The Fed front-loaded an enormous market rally in order to create a wealth effect." Today he is back, taking a victory lap on the 7th anniversary of the crisis lows by explaining, rather stunningly, to CNBC that

"we injected cocaine and heroin into the system"

to enable a wealth effect (that he admits did not work, despite its success in raising asset prices), and

"now we are maintaining it with ritalin."

Fisher also confirmed his previous warning that "the Fed is a giant weapon that has no ammunition left."

Fisher explains how The Fed achieved its goals... but admits that didn't really fix anything...

Wall Street titan Asher Edelman states in the video:
​"We are at the cusp of another 2007, 2008. And it could well happen before the election... What's happened is, that credit, secondary credit in America–and in the world–has completely dried up. And there is none of the fuel and none of the backing that we had maybe in 2011 until now."
​In May 2016, IMF economists gave a strong critique of neoliberal doctrine ushered in by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s:

﻿​Edelman explains one of the reasons why Bernie Sanders is the best fix for an economy that has been geeked up since the days of Bill Clinton:​"Bernie is the only person out there who I think is talking at all about both fiscal stimulation and banking rules that will get the banks to begin to generate lending again as opposed to speculation; ​

"Well, I think it's pretty straightforward. If you start with President Reagan and you carry that through the end of Obama, you see a tremendous deterioration in the income levels of average people. You see an inflation in what they are able to buy, which is also pretty extraordinary. You see a government which believes you should transfer money from the poor and middle classes to the rich and that the rich will spend the money and get the economy going again. Actually, that's not what happens. What happens is the rich invest the money often in things that are not necessarily productive for the rest of society, such as stock markets and bond markets. They're somewhat productive, but not particularly, and the rest of society doesn't benefit."

Click for video.

"At the same time, from the days of Reagan forward, we've had a pretty massive... I'd like to call it really something other than corruption, but we've had a pretty massive accepted corruption in our political system. Our political system has gone, I guess I could call it bribery, but it's legal bribery, where politicians receive great amounts of money both for their campaigns and great amounts of pleasure from lobbyists in return for certain favors."

"And this time around, we have one candidate who is probably the queen of receiving money. It goes as far back as her days in Arkansas before Bill became president."

"And that one she almost got in real trouble for. It goes through her medical plan, her health plan that she was planning with a senator who was arrested and put in jail for bribery."

"And there's a long, consistent situation where every major industry in America has paid this lady. It includes the pharmaceuticalindustry, the insuranceindustry, Wall Street, military and arms sales. All of these have been behind Hillary and she supports all of these. And it makes it very very difficult to reverse the income preferences that have been given to the richer people in America. And I doubt very much she wants to. She has been paid not to."

​"In the case of Donald–Dr. Strangelove is our nickname for Donald–in the case of Dr. Strangelove, it's pathetic. He has no real knowledge of economics. He has no real knowledge of international affairs. He has no real knowledge of anything except how to make noise and get the press to write about him. Incidentally, the press has been terribly irresponsible about how they write about him. They keep him on the front page when he really should be on the back page."

"And Donald is anything but presidential. Can you imagine a president going into a room and refusing to shake hands with anyone in the room. And that's Donald Trump because he doesn't shake hands because he's germophobic. And one time when I visited Donald Trump on a business matter... I entered with an ex-associate of his who is a friend of mine, and I went to shake Donald's hand. He said, "Don't shake Donald's hand." And I said, well why? He said, "He's germophobic." And I said, did he adopt his children? And my friend said, "Don't even approach that matter because he's very self-conscious about his sexuality."" I don't think this makes a very good president. But anyway. I mean, Donald is just a buffoon. A buffoon without taste, without knowledge. And without as much money as he says he has. So, Donald certainly can't be president. Hillary shouldn't be president."

"All of the things that have happened in this country require compassion today. The poor people on the streets, the lack of education, our educational system has fallen apart. The streets, themselves. All of these things."

"The debts that people go through to get through a college when universities and colleges in most countries are free, even in poorer countries than America."

"The idea that people are trying to take away such things as food stamps. The idea that people are trying to reduce social security, something that we've paid all our lives. Most of us don't even get back all the money we've paid in. To end things like Medicare and health plans. I think it's disgraceful. And I think that both Hillary and Donald will go into those directions; Hillary because she's paid and Donald because he's uninformed, in fact rather stupid."

​Why aren't more Wall Street people in support of Bernie? Why are you such a rarity?

​"Because Bernie has every intention of stopping the crime that goes on in the banks. And indeed, even the Obama government, and Obama says "I saved the banks, I saved General Motors." What about the people? Who saved the people? But Bernie's not going to lay out 15 trillion dollars to save the banks when the people got fewer than $500 million, okay? Bernie's gonna probably...if the economy doesn't get going...he will figure out a way to get a trillion or two going into the economy again, rebuilding the economy, but not with the purpose of making the banks profitable."

"Do you know that the Federal Reserve gives approximately $20 billion a year, gratuitously, to the handful of banks that are members of the Federal Reserve? And there is no function that they fill as members of the Federal Reserve that they wouldn't fill as non-members of the Federal Reserve."

"So, these things need to end, and I think that obviously, Wall Street is not interested in these things ending because they get the money. And Bernie won't give them the money."

"Bernie also, probably, will not spend his life being a failed warrior. If you think about America from WWII on, let us start with Vietnam or Korea, or wherever you want to start, we've never really won a war. So why are we having wars? We've never won a war. When we leave, even if we say we've say we won–and W. said we won–what happens after? Nothing that we might have wanted, and usually it gets worse. I don't think Bernie's going to do that."

"And I believe that this is a man who is sincere, who is not particularly there for the money he might make later, who is not there because he has to have power. I think he's there for the good of the nation and I do not believe the other two are."

Explain to me why Bernie's policies will be good for the economy, though, because you hear the word socialism and people think higher taxes. How does that end up translating into more spending power for the middle and lower classes?

"First, let's stop for one moment worrying about higher taxes in terms of brackets. When you talk about taxes, I think that Bernie's first approach will be to take away all the preferences that the rich people have been given since the Reagan era. And I think he will also try to divide the banking system in such a way so that banks are back to the purpose that they were founded for, which is to gather capital and to lend it out in a cautious and conservative way, but to lend capital out."

​​"Now, if you spend money on the infrastructure from higher taxes or from borrowing–America can afford to borrow, rates are nothing–and you spend money on the infrastructure and you get money down to the people, that money rotates–it has a velocity–of up to 2 and 3 times because the people at the bottom and in the middle spend all the money they get. But the money at the top just stops. And if it stops, you're not going to have a growing economy. But if it doesn't stop, the economy will grow. And I believe that all of the issues that Bernie has approached–and I don't say that he really understands every one of them completely, I think he has the right idea, and he'll get the right people behind him–but all of the issues that Bernie talks about will lead us back to a productive economy for the middle classes down to the poor. And all of the issues that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump approach will bring us back to the Clinton-Reagan era, or the Obama era. He has accomplished none of this himself. And also, he has been a warrior. A hidden warrior. Do you know that this country never tortured people before W? It really didn't. And now we have Donald Trump talking about torture being just fine. And I don't hear Hillary talking about it not being fine. And I still see Guantanamo open, so Obama didn't do very much."

"I think that Bernie will accomplish things in these areas. I think he has the support of the young, intelligent people. And the old, boring, conservative people who are selfish and who want everything for themselves will not have the say with Bernie, and they haven't bought Bernie."

​About the future if Bernie doesn't get elected, do you see us going towards another financial crisis like we saw in 2008, or do you see these changes coming through the movement that Bernie started, even if it's not him as president?

"My dear friend, we are at the cusp of another 2007, 2008. And it could well happen before the election. We are at the cusp of it, because, what's happened is, that credit, secondary credit in America–and in the world–has completely dried up. And there is none of the fuel and none of the backing that we had maybe in 2011 until now. And the European banking system, which has been, shall we say, my hand washes yours and yours washes mine, for many many many years is coming apart because the hands don't wash anymore. There's nothing there to do it with."

"I don't think that China is as big a problem as we all say. In fact, I'm sometimes amused because we designate China and Russia as our enemies. Now, why do we do that? I'm not sure. Is that because of the power that the Hillary Clintons and the business people behind her want? Is China really our enemy or are we making them our enemy? Do we really believe that if China has possession of a little island in the China Sea that that's going to prevent the world from running boats to do trading with China? I don't think so. I think these things are a myth, and they are a myth in order to keep this whole machine going that these folks are paid to keep going."

​Do you feel like there is maybe a sea change or are you the only one who seems to understand this? Do you see more and more people getting on this same wavelength as you?

"I don't see the older people getting on the wavelength. But I do think that the younger people are paying attention. And of course there are some older people who pay attention. I think it will be the youth of America, and may the youth of the world that enables us to survive."

"And I hope they have the good luck to get Bernie as their leader because the other ones are going to be a catastrophe."

If you had to pick, which one do think would be better for the economy? Trump or Hillary?

"You know, it's so hard... I would think if Donald did the good things he said he was going to do he would be better, because she's a disaster. But, Donald is crazy. And Donald is tasteless. And he doesn't have a clue. And he's going to have the wrong people around him, so it's very very very hard to say."

You've talked about your career on Wall Street over the years. Do you think that Bernie takes it too far in his rhetoric about Wall Street, or is most of what he is saying merited? You know, he can vilify Wall Street sometimes.

​"Everybody on Wall Street is not a bad guy. There are more bad guys than there were before because the whole concept of greed without caring about others has really taken hold. No, I don't think Bernie exaggerates at all, except that it's of course isolated. I mean it's isolated to the big banks and a few others, but it is somewhat isolated. When I went to Wall Street, if you on a phone said, "I will do that deal," and when you put the phone down you realized you just lost a lot of money, you still did the deal. That does not exist anymore. It started to come apart in the 1980s. The respect these people had for themselves as opposed to the raw game of money changed radically. And you know, even though Giuliani was grandstanding and it was his method of becoming a politician, you saw what happened to Wall Street as they began to expose some of what was going on. They didn't expose their friends and the friends of Giuliani paid for his election here and they did the same things as the guys who were exposed. But, nonetheless. No, I think that Wall Street, it's too big a word. I think some of Wall Street is disrespectful for the laws. They know they can pay fines. They know they're not going to jail. And it's considered simply an expense of being in the business."

I sometimes worry that the public isn't ready for him (Bernie) in a lot of ways. They don't understand what he's trying to do. Breaking up the big banks scares them or higher taxes scare them. Do you think there is something that's lost in translation between his rhetoric and actual governing, if he were to be elected?

"Well, what's lost in translation, actually, is people understanding what he is saying. And it's because he really can't, and maybe it's impossible in a short amount of time of a speech, really can't explain it. When he's talking about higher taxes, he's talking about cleaning up preferences, and he's talking about taxing rich people at the top who currently pay 15% in tax."

What's an example of preference?

"Preference might be capital gains to people who run funds and they have an income stream from running the funds because they have a percentage of profits and they are allowed to pay capital gains. And that's a preference."

"There are just many many many preferences. For example, oil companies never payanytaxes and they have something called depletion. Oil companies... Exxon is really a country. Don't even think of it as a company. It's a country and it behaves like a country, a power hungry country. So those kinds of preferences, and it goes on and on."

I have many friends in real estate and I respect them and they do a really good job. And they take real risks to build what they build. But there's something called depreciation. Some things depreciate and some things don't. And generally, in most places over the years, real estate appreciates as opposed to depreciating.And I think Bernie will at least try to adjust some of these things. It may not be good. It may not be bad."

"And then I think the incredible set of preferences that the people at the top rely on effectively gives them, in general, about a 15% level of taxation. Whereas a man or woman earning $100,000 a year is probably paying between state, city, and federal, something closer to 35% or 40%."

"That's a very good question. Yes! But not yet. I think that if he really loses the primary..."

"Remember, there are many things going on with Hillary and she could be pushed aside along the way. I mean, things are coming to the fore. Donald is going to bring more things to the fore. And Bernie's the only one still there."

"And I would strongly urge Bernie to run as an Independent because I think when these two people start ripping at each other and when the world understands and the country understands who and what they are, he could win as an independent. He could take Hillary's progressives away and he could take Donald's rebels away, all at once. So Bernie, listen to this!"

Asher Edelman is an art collector, financier. He is the founder and CEO of ArtAssure Ltd. and the founder of Edelman Arts, Inc. and Artemus.Edelman began studying and collecting art in the 1950s. From 1962 to 1988, he enjoyed a successful career on Wall Street, during which time he also taught a controversial course at Columbia University School of Business entitled “Corporate Raiding: The Art of War.”

In 1990 he moved to Lausanne, Switzerland where he founded the Musée d’Art Contemporain. While in Lausanne he curated retrospective exhibitions of artists including Pablo Picasso, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Roy Lichtenstein.
​Upon his return to New York in 1995 Edelman began dealing in art and in 2009 founded ArtAssure Ltd., an art finance company. He has served and serves on numerous Boards of dance, educational, music and visual arts institutions.

Edelman has been outspoken about his support for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election: "Banking is the least understood, and possibly most lethal, of all the myriad issues at stake in this election. No candidate other than Bernie Sanders is capable of taking the steps necessary to protect the American people from a repeat of the recent debacle that plunged the nation into a recession from which we have not recovered."

“Banking is the least understood, and possibly most lethal, of all the myriad issues at stake in this election. No candidate other than Bernie Sanders is capable of taking the steps necessary to protect the American people from a repeat of the recent debacle that plunged the nation into a recession from which we have not recovered…Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who escapes the malaise of being bought. He is paid for by the people and represents their interests. And you can take that to the bank.” – Asher Edelman, the real life Gordon Gekko